TeeKay's big news

[TeeKay]

Hey there.

As I mentioned briefly before I went away for the weekend (200-and something odd messages I came back to by the way ) I have some big news, well I think it's big, other people may not ...

Anyway, next sunday I start a work experience placement at Port Lympne, one of my local zoos, working in the large carnivore department (which just so happens to include the lions andf the tigers ) The big news is that this is a HUGE step towards getting a job as a zookeeper when I leave college. As you probably know zookeeping is one of the hardest jobs to get into as there are so few jobs avaialble, even getting a placement is pretty difficult, so this is a big bonus. And is things go well, when I start college in september I'll be able to roll the placement over to part of my course. Oh, and while I'm on the subject of college I finially have a place on a course nailed. I'm now (or rather I will be doing come september) a foundation degree in animal conservation and bio-diversity with the option of doing the last year of the animal management full degree course.

Anyway, I'll let you know how thing go after sunday.

[Lucy Lioness]

That's great! Port Lympne is great! Good luck!

[TakaTiger]

ohh, i wanna be a zoo keeperrrr.... im takin some classes next year that might help me alot

[King Simba]

Work experience at a zoo? Awesome, I'd love to work in a zoo sometime in my life. Awesome stuff, TK. :Ooo:

[LunarCat]

oh wow that's awesome TK!!!!!!!!

[Simba '04]

total sweetness , maybe you can get me a pet tiger , j/k

good luck to ya buddy, I hope ya get the job as Zookeeper, I'll definitely have to come by and visit!

[Wolfman Jack]

That is awesome TK, best of luck to ya!

[Alli]

That's so awesome! I've always dreamed of being a zoo keeper, but i doubt it'll happen. Luckeh!

[Azerane]

Wow, that's fantastic news! That is a really big step towards being a Zookeeper. I hope it goes well for you! Good luck with it!

[Kintaru]

Hey, that's great to hear Teekay!

I'll have to remember to talk to ya the next time I see you on msn heheh. As more and more I'm thinking about seriously considering a career at a zoo, preferably with big cats heheh. Maybe you can give me some advice.

[Ngatuny]

Awesome TeeKay and good luck keep your self safe, and take some pictures .

[unregistered user]

Congratulations, TK! You're lucky man, I'm still on a waiting list to become a volunteer at my zoo.



Take pictures if you can & good luck, Sunday.

[TeeKay]

Thanks for the encouragement guys

I have the feeling I'm going to need it. I have no idea what I'm going to be doing, in fact I know very little about the placement actually. All I do know is that I have to be there for 9am at the staff entrance. I'm sure it'll be fine though, even if it is just shovelling poo all day, hehe.

I don't know if I'll have a chance to take any photos, at least not for the first few weeks, however I'm hopefully (if the weather behaves) going tomorrow to find out exactly where the staff entrance is, so I should be taking some photos then. I still have a load from this weekend to go through, so watch this space.

Anyway, thanks again. I'll let you know how I get on

[unregistered user]

Originally posted by TeeKay
All I do know is that I have to be there for 9am at the staff entrance. I'm sure it'll be fine though, even if it is just shovelling poo all day, hehe.

Don't forget to bring boots and some deodorizers.

[lion_roog]

Awesome, Dude!!

You must live my dream.....and get drunk with the lionesses...

[SIMBAtheENIGMA]

Now thats cool. Id like to do some courses like that at uni. Unfortnaly i still have 1 and 1/2 years of school, then I can chose my Uni Course. I hope all goes well with Uni and the Zoo mate'h *Hugs*

[SimbaLKD]

Awsome TeeKay!! You know, the very most rewarding experience of my life was only a few weeks ago in Las Vegas. I went to the Stardust tired and beat! So I decided to catch a show, Rick Thomas. He had a few tigers on stage, one of them a White Tiger.

I was sitting VIP in the front row. I was picked to volunteer during a trick. The pay-off was when the massive White Tiger walked only about 2 feet away from me to get into a cage. I was already stoked.

But the next part I shall never forget. He did his magic ?stuffs? and made the Tiger disappear. Then, all that was left in the cage was a baby cub White Tiger, he said he shrunk it.

Then he told me to pick it up, so I did. I got to hold a Whit Tiger cub!! *weeeeeeeeee* thinking about that all the time gives me the motivation to peruse my dreams in Animal Conservation and Behavioral Sciences.

Good luck TeeKay!!! I really hope you succeed in your ambitions, and *cheers* those are the greatest you could pursue!

[Broken]

That's awesome ^^ I am studying Zoology too ^^.

[TeeKay]

So, yesterday.

Well yesterday I was TeeKay, the trainee, zookeeper. It's kinda' hard to know where to start actually, I had a really good time and it was an amazing experience, and yes there was a fair bit of cleaning poo, hehe However there was quite a lot of cool stuff to do too. For example they have a small group of hand reared lions and I spent quite a bit of the afternoon sitting with them, not in the enclosure, but just the other side of the fence so they could get used to my scent. We also went round the rest of the zoo and I fed a rhino some bananas and got covered in tapier snot

I was a bit nervous, however being in an enclosure with two African hunting dogs can do that to you, and I imagine that'll get better with time (hopefully so will my axe skills, I was unbelievibly crap at cutting the meat with it) and I managed to do a number on my shoulder heaving lion food onto the back of a truck (it's heavier than it looks)

Anyway, I can't recomend this enough for anyone interested in a job zookeeping or something similar. The cool stuff more than outweighs the poo and dead horse, and there are always other animals (the giraffe house smelt a lot better than the lion enclosure )

[unregistered user]

The only smell I can't stand at zoological parks is bison.



Anyway, congrats trainee TK!

BTW, take a picture of yourself in uniform (if possible) . Koolness man, koolness...